martes, 17 de noviembre de 2009

The First Instruments In the World

I was searching to see which instruments were the first ones in the world and this is what I found:

Music is an artistic form of sound communication via
musical instruments that produce sounds and tones. Music is as old as
mankind. All cultures past and present have music. The "oldest known
song" dates back 4,000 years ago and was written in ancient cuneiform.
It is not certain how or when the first musical instrument was
invented, however, most historians point to early flutes made from
animal bones that are at least 37,000 years old. Below you will find
the stories behind several popular musical instruments.

Accordion

Charles Wheatstone invented the accordion in 1829. The accordion is
played by pressing and expanding the air bellows, while the musician
presses buttons and keys to force the air across reeds that produce
sounds.

35,000-year-old flute oldest instrument ever found

By Marlowe Hood
(AFP)
–
Jun 24, 2009

PARIS (AFP) — Stone Age humans may have ripped raw meat from the
bone with their teeth but they also played music, according to a study
reporting the discovery of a 35,000-year-old flute, the oldest
instrument known.

Found in the Ach Valley of southern Germany,
the nearly intact five-hole flute was meticulously carved with stone
tools from the hollow wing-bone of a giant vulture, says the study,
published Thursday in the British journal Nature.

Fragments from
three ivory flutes unearthed at the same site, along with nearby
instruments not quite as old, suggest that humans who had then only
recently migrated to the Upper Danube enjoyed a rich musical culture.

And
a stunning female figurine from the same period found only a couple
paces from the bone flute, reported last month, points to a broader
artistic flowering.

Indeed, the area within the cave that yielded the flutes reveals a veritable artist's atelier.

There
is debris from the flint tools used to chip the instruments; traces of
worked bone and ivory from mammoth, horse, reindeer and bear; and burnt
bone, one of the ingredients -- along with minerals, charcoal, blood
and animal fats -- used by Stone Age humans for cave painting.

"We
can now conclude that music played an important role in Aurignacian
life in the Ach and Lone valleys," commented Nicholas Conard, a
professor at the University of Tubingen and lead author of the study.

Aurignacian
culture flourished in western Europe during what is known as the Upper
Palaeolithic period, from about 40,000 to 10,000 years ago.

The
bone flute, part of a treasure trove of artifacts uncovered at the
Hohle Fels Cave, was found in 12 pieces scattered over an oval area the
size of a large plate. It is in superb condition and reveals many
details about its manufacture.

Nearly 22 centimetres (8.7 inches)
long and 2.2 centimetres (one inch) in diameter, the instrument has
precisely carved markings next to four of the finger holes, probably to
indicate where they should be cut.

There are two deep, V-shaped notches carved into the end into which the musician blew.

Conard
reports that a playable replica of the flute has not yet been made, but
says it is likely to produce a range of notes comparable to many modern
types of flute.

The technique for making the ivory flutes -- of
which only a few fragments remain -- is far more complicated, according
to the study.

First the craftsman would have hewn the rough shape
of the instrument from a solid, naturally curved piece of tusk. Then
the piece of ivory was split lengthwise, the halves hollowed out, and
the holes carved.

Finally the two halves of the flute were rejoined with some kind of glue to form an air-tight seal.

Using
radiocarbon dating techniques, Conard calculated that the newly
discovered bone and ivory flutes were made at least 35,000 years ago,
pushing back the age of the oldest known instrument by some 5,000 years.

Conard speculates that late Stone Age music did not contribute directly to the evolutionary success of the first modern humans.

But it may have given them a slight edge over neighbouring Neanderthals, who died out even as Homo sapiens sapiens flourished.

"Upper
Palaeolithic music could have contributed to the maintenance of large
social networks, and thereby have helped facilitate the demographic and
territorial expansion of modern humans" compared to the more
"culturally conservative" and isolated Neanderthals, he said.

Scientists have long speculated that Neanderthals played music too, but no evidence of their musicality has been found so far.

Musical Instrumentsof the Ancient Greeks

Pictorial
decorations, pot decorations, relief, mosaics, statues etc are a rich
source of information concerning ancient musical instruments.
Unfortunately very few fragments of instruments have been discovered
but they are quite illuminating. Finally, the various preserved texts
and works of ancient Greek literature are an invaluable source of
information.

Strings

THE
LYRE: The most widely used and popular string instrument in Ancient
Greece was the lyre as it was played not only by professional
musicians. It was a symbol of Apollo and was not used in outdoor
performances. It
was the musical instrument that was primarily used as part of young
people’s education and could be characterized as the national
instrument of the ancient Greeks.

PHORMINX:
Perhaps it is the earliest form of the ancient guitar and was mainly
associated with the presentation of Homeric epics and rhapsodies. It
was considered to be a sacred instrument and perhaps the oldest string instrument.

KITHARIS:
It was usually designed with a square base and considered a demanding
instrument as it required skillful playing therefore it was an
instrument for professional musicians called “kitharodoi” and was used
in music competitions. It is regarded as an improved form of the lyre
and it has 12 strings whereas the lyre has 8.

VARVITOS:
It has longer arms than the lyre therefore it has longer strings. This
instrument has a lower extent and produces a sweeter and deeper sound
than that of the lyre.

PANDOURA
OR PANDOURIS: It is a three-stringed musical instrument and is
considered the ancestor of the lute. It was also known to the ancient
Greeks as trichordon (three-stringed).

Winds

AVLOS
OR DIAVLOS: It was one of the most significant ancient Greek wind
instruments used in almost all the private and public ceremonies, in national competitions, in processions and in tragedies. It was connected with the worship of the ancient God Dionysus.

CONCH-SHELL: It is a natural trumpet. Ancient Greeks usually used the shell called triton or strombus gigas or cassis.

SYRINX:
A wind instrument of humble social status as it was primarily used by
shepherds and was connected with Pan. The syrinx was made of reed and
was also known as Pan’s syrinx. It was not used for artistic purposes.

ANCIENT
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT-XUN Made of Clay
The oldest ancient Chinese wind instruments dates back in the period
7000 years age. Pottery. They have different shapes; fish, pear, gourd.
and so forth.
size:

The harp is one of the oldest musical instruments; archaeologists
discovered a wall painting in Ancient Egyptian tombs which resembled
that of a harp and dates back to 3000 BC.

The harp is surprisingly
easy to start. There are piano students who learn to play the harp with
little difficulty because both instruments require reading music pieces
in double-stave. Harps come in small sizes for kids age 8 years upwards
and bigger harps for students 12 years and older. There are not a lot
of people who play the harp and finding a teacher may be difficult.
Nevertheless, it is one of the most beautiful sounding instruments and
it's worth learning if you desire.

This Hardanger fiddle is a Norwegian folk violin. Built in 1928 by a Norwegian immigrant,
Anders Odegaarden of Norway Valley, Alberta, the fiddle is made of spruce and maple.
The fingerboard is inlaid with mother-of- pearl and ivory. A dragon's head decorates
the scroll.

A shofar is an ancient Jewish liturgical instrument. A natural trumpet, it is usually
made from a ram's horn. This shofar was a family treasure, brought to Canada ca.1900
by Vladislaw Schwartz, a Jewish immigrant from Minsk, Russia. Many Jews left Russia
around this time, to escape pogroms.

Pan Flute or Syrinx

The
pan flute (also known as panflute or panpipes) is an ancient musical
instrument based on the principle of the Closed tube, consisting
usually of ten or more pipes of gradually increasing length (and, at
times, girth). The pan flute has long been popular as a folk
instrument, and is considered the ancestor of both the pipe organ and
the harmonica. The pan flute is named for its association with the
rustic Greek god Pan. The pipes of the pan flute are typically made
from bamboo or giant reed (Arundo donax); other materials used include
wood, plastic, and metal.

This is want I found I will continue to put things so we all can learn more about music together